DURHAM — The University of New Hampshire football team could have scored on every offensive possession Saturday and it still might not have mattered.

The Wildcats couldn’t stop Towson in a 64-35 loss at Cowell Stadium that ruined their chance to clinch their first outright CAA title.

Now they’ll have to wait for the results of a complex tiebreaker to see who gets the automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

The 20-team field will be revealed this afternoon at 1:30 on ESPNU.

“We’ve got to regroup, come back (today) and see what (today) brings,” said UNH coach Sean McDonnell. “Hopefully we get another opportunity. I think we should. I think we’re one of the top 20 teams in the country.”

The Tigers played like the more desperate team, knowing they had to win or their season was over.

The No. 7 Wildcats (8-3, 6-2 CAA), who were trying to clinch a league title at home for the first time since 1975, were outscored 35-7 in the second half as the defense couldn’t get off the field.

“I don’t think I was tired,” said senior linebacker Alan Buzbee, “but in terms of disappointment it was way worse. On senior day at home with an opportunity to win a conference championship and they put up (64) on you is not a good feeling.”

Losing for just the second time in the last 24 home games, UNH surrendered 660 total yards, including 433 on the ground, and 31 first downs.

“When you have a running game like that, you can do things off it like play action,” Buzbee said. “We probably missed 30 tackles, and when you do that against an offense like that you’re going to get embarrassed like we did.”

The Tigers had to punt only once early in the fourth quarter and leading 43-28.

No. 19/16 Towson (7-4, 6-2 CAA), which has won four in a row, held the ball almost twice as long as UNH, which managed only 95 total yards in the second half.

“We were shooting ourselves in the foot in the second half,” said offensive guard Chris Zarkoskie. “We couldn’t execute and it showed in the second half. We couldn’t get anything done.”

The Wildcats, who had a six-game win streak and a 10-game home streak snapped, trailed 30-28 at halftime.

Quarterback Andy Vailas scored on a 77-yard run on the game’s first play from scrimmage and Steven Thames returned a blocked field goal 65 yards on the last play of the first half.

In between it was all Towson, which came away with points on its first five possessions of the game.

The Tigers also scored on their first drive of the second half to squelch any momentum the Wildcats might have gained from Thames’s return of Jared Smith’s block.

“First drive of the second half was huge,” McDonnell said. “They go right down and score and we never got in a rhythm again offensively.”

Vailas rushed for 110 yards and ran for two scores. His 9-yard TD run late in the first quarter and two-point conversion pass to Joey Orlando tied the game at 14.

Towson, however, scored the next 16 points to open up a 30-14 lead.

An 18-yard touchdown pass from Vailas to tight end Brian Ciccone with 3:52 left in the second quarter and the return by Thames sent UNH into the locker room on a high.

The Wildcats quickly fell to earth as Towson opened the second half with 27 unanswered points to lead 57-28.

“They ran it,” McDonnell said. “They threw it. They blitzed us. They tackled us. They did a lot of things better than us.”

The Tigers scored six rushing TDs, including two by Terrance West, who finished with 236 yards on 19 carries.

Towson QB Grant Enders threw for 245 yards and two touchdowns. He also ran for two scores.

The Tigers held UNH to 141 yards passing and forced three turnovers, turning two into immediate touchdowns.

“Very disappointed to say the least,” McDonnell said. “Never in my wildest (dreams) did I think it would go the way it did today. But it did, and those things happen.”